Live music review: King Yosef with Street Sects or How TikTok kids found real Industrial music

Can’t say I’ve ever seen someone whip out a chainsaw, haunted house-style, at a show before, and now, after seeing Street Sects, I have. Didn’t have that on my bingo card. But, fuck it man. Pop off.

The kids are all right. For a while there, it seemed like the industrial scene was dead as disco, but after catching Austin’s Street Sects open for King Yosef and Youth Code at the 29th Street Ballroom Wednesday night, it’s a fair take to conclude that something’s bubbling up in the industrial scene like it did with hardcore and punk, with waves of new, young fans finding the music, in part to being chronically online. The underground is finding its way, even if it’s via TikToks and Instagram blowing bands up – whatever, it’s better than Sabrina Carpenter.

I didn’t catch much of Insula Iscariot, but I did witness homie rolling on the floor to some very cEvin Key pulses and beats, the people were cheering. Seemed legit. File that one under: very noisy, very in your face, no lights. Lots of screaming. Like I said, I missed most of their set due to really being into my burger at Dan’s. (Easily still one of the best in town and good value for the money.)

Local crew, Street Sects, went for it big time as it was a hometown show. Their singer (Leo Ashline) was going off in his black suit while the rest of the band rocked out extra hard for the homies. I’d never heard of them, but glad they’re on my radar now. Plus, the merch they sell is next-level cool, some of the best, most creative I’ve seen in a hot minute. Their music was wild and chaotic.  It’s heavy and mean, but not metal – this is Industrial for real rivet heads – the stuff they book at Elysium.

I get the allure of these psychos. They’re fun as hell. I know the singer would probably hate me for the comparison, but his vocal style reminded me a lot of Greg Puciato (Dillinger Escape Plan) mixed with some Nitzer Ebb, maybe even Nails. This is yet another Austin band crushing out on the national stage – no one has a better scene than this city – Street Sects is more proof.

We came to see King Yosef on a whim. I got hip to his music on Monday. And for real, the dude absolutely crushes it. It’s like Godflesh and Nailbomb, it’s what I wish Fear Factory became instead of whatever “Digitmortal” and “Obsolete” are.

Just hearing them and seeing how the crowd vibed, you can tell that with the right tours, this could be a Spiritual Cramp situation where the venues grow with each successive run. There are breakdowns, it’s heavy, it’s industrial, but there are hardcore and death metal moments – you could see King Yosef aka Josef Pelletier playing with Knocked Loose or Cannibal Corpse, or even Ministry. They’re legit and mean.

Speaking of Ministry, Youth Code sounds like ChatGPT Ministry. They’re straight Wax Trax worship which is fine, but that’s what it is. It wasn’t for me. I won’t say they suck, but for what it was, it’s music for kids who look like they could rebuild a motorcycle but can’t change their own oil. The kids in black leather pants and splattered eye makeup loved it, and really, that’s what matters, the little hordes of Fairuza Balks straight from The Craft. 

Every band on the bill wasn’t a copy/paste of one another. That’s always a refreshing thing to experience as a music fan. Live music is essential, but sometimes, you catch a lineup and everyone is doing the same thing with only slight differences which can get tedious.  This was a genuinely mixed bill that served the same base but gave everyone something different: chaos one moment, heavy riffs, and dancey sing-alongs, then next. Unpredictable, which is a good thing. For a pretty full, not sold-out show on a school night, that’s also a good thing.

Music is still very much alive in Austin. Sometimes, the most obvious seeds aren’t always in front of you. the crowd skewed younger, while there were a few old heads in the room, it was mostly 20-somethings.  As we all know, cool kidz scenes tend to intensify. It’s easy to envision King Yosef playing Mohawk in a year if the tours and exposure lines up for him.

What’s old is new. In a world where Imagine Dragons soundtrack truck commercials and Machine Gun Kelly thinks he invented punk rock, I’ll take Ministry worship every day of the week. The kids are A-OK. I hope the acts on the tour sold merch and comfortably made it to the next venue. The old school will catch on soon to these new bands, trust me. They caught on to TikTok, didn’t they?

All photos by Justin Clark

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